Baitz - A Fair Country

Copyright 1997 by Jon Robin Baitz

A Fair Country is published by Theatre Communications Group, Inc.,

355 Lexington Ave., New York, NY 10017-0217.

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Excerpt from Refugee Blues by W. H. Auden found on is copyright 1976 by Edward Mendelson, William Meredith and Monroe K. Spears, executors of the estate of W. H. Auden, from W. H. Auden Collected Poems, editor Edward Mendelson, Random House, New York. Reprinted by permission.

Baitz, Jon Robin, (1961)

A fair country / Jon Robin Baitz.

eISBN 9781559368186

I. Title.

PS3552. A393F35 1996

812.54dc20 9635080

CIP

Cover art by James McMullan

Cover design by Donna Moy

Text design and composition by Lisa Govan

First Edition, February 1997

For Dan S.

A Fair Country opened at Lincoln Center Theaters Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater in New York City on February 19, 1996. The sets were designed by Tony Walton, the lights by James F. Ingalls, the costumes by Jane Greenwood, the sound by Scott Lehrer and original music was composed by Robert Waldman. Daniel Sullivan directed the following cast:

A Fair Country was workshopped at Seattle Repertory Theatre during their 199495 New Play Workshop Series in April 1995. Sets were by Thomas Gregg Meyer, lights by Jay Strevey, costumes by Catherine Meacham Hunt and sound by David Pascal. Daniel Sullivan directed the following cast:

A Fair Country received a workshop production at New York Citys Naked Angels in November 1994. Set design was by Adrianne Lobel, lights by Brian MacDevitt, costumes by Jane Greenwood, sound by John Kilgore and original music was composed by Rick Baitz. David Warren directed the following cast:

The play was presented as a workshop by New York Stage and Film and the Powerhouse Theater at Vassar College in July 1994. David Warren directed the following cast:

The playwright would like to thank John Patrick Shanley for encouraging him to pick up the abandoned shards of a broken play and keep going forward.

Contents

Gil Burgess

Patrice Burgess

Hilton

Ellsworth Hodges

Harry Burgess

Togolese Policeman

Allie Burgess

Gerrit Van Eden

Carly Fletcher

Announcer

Say this city has ten million souls,

Some are living in mansions, some are living in holes:

Yet theres no place for us, my dear, yet theres no place for us.

Once we had a country and we thought it fair,

Look in the atlas and youll find it there:

We cannot go there now, my dear, we cannot go there now.

In the village churchyard there grows an old yew,

Every spring it blossoms anew:

Old passports cant do that, my dear, old passports cant do that.

The consul banged the table and said:

If youve got no passport youre officially dead:

But we are still alive, my dear, but we are still alive.

from Refugee Blues by W. H. Auden

Southern Mexico, 1987

A clearing in the jungle. A remote archaeological dig near the Guatemalan border. There is perhaps only a tent. A hint of jungle on all sides.

Gil Burgess, a young man in dust-covered shorts and T-shirt is working with a brush and tweezers at the excavation site, carefully examining the shards of an ancient Mayan pot. He does not notice that he is being watched by a middle-aged woman, in sensible traveling clothes, who has appeared at the clearing. She silently studies him for a long moment before speaking.

PATRICE: Hello, Gil.

GIL (Startled, he shakes his head, and laughs): Im hallucinating. Right?

PATRICE: No.

GIL: Its what happens when youre alone.

PATRICE: Its really actually, me.

GIL (Completely stunned): Oh, Christ.

PATRICE (Studying him from the other side of the clearing): You look so different.

GIL: Do I? Huh.

(Beat) You tracked me down. Mother.

(He laughs) What did you do? Did you think that would be a good thing? That I would be

(Beat) You heard yourself speaking to me? My response? Im curious because...

PATRICE: Oh, Ive had this exact conversation several times, in my head. Believe me.